Ironwood Windpower Project, Kansas, United States of America

The Ironwood Windpower Project is a 500MW wind farm to be built in Kansas, US. It is being developed by Ironwood Windpower, a unit of Duke Energy Generation Service (DEGS), which will build, own and operate the project.

The Ironwood Windpower Project will be developed in phases with the first phase producing 168MW of wind energy. Construction of phase I is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2011. Phase I is expected to begin commercial operations in December 2012.

The Ford County Commission awarded Conditional Use Permits for the project in August 2010. The project will generate sufficient electricity to power more than 50,000 homes. Westar Energy will buy the entire power for a period of 20 years.

The Ironwood project will be DEGS' first wind farm to be built in Kansas and the tenth in the US. The company has focused on wind and solar power businesses since 2007 investing over $1.5bn.

Ironwood plant details

The Ironwood wind farm will be spread over an area of 18,603 acres in the Ford and Hodgeman counties of Kansas. The site consists primarily of agricultural land and is a good wind resource.

Terracon Consultants carried out the environmental assessment of the site for the project.

First phase of the project will feature 73 Siemens wind turbines, rated at 2.3MW each. Each turbine features three blades and has a hub height of 262ft. The rotor diameter of the turbines is 331ft. The turbines will feature a nacelle containing the gearbox and other equipment. They will be placed in multiple rows oriented in an east-west direction to optimise energy generation.

A 34.5kV electrical collection system, a substation, meteorological towers and an operations and maintenance building will be built as part of the project. The electrical collection system will collect and transfer electricity generated at the site to the project substation. It will collect electricity through underground cables. The meteorological towers will ensure optimal performance of the turbines.

A 2.4km overhead transmission line will be laid at the site to transfer electricity generated to the grid network. Underground communication cables will also be laid to enable communication between the operators and those working at the turbines. The project includes construction of access roads at the site.

DEGS claims to ensure that the construction activities have minimal impact on the agricultural area at the site.

Future phases of the project will use turbines with capacity ranging from 1.5MW to 3MW. The hub height of these turbines will be 262ft and rotor diameters will range from 252ft to 335ft.

Grid network

Westar will be responsible for transferring the electricity generated by the wind farm to the grid network. To accomplish this, it has entered into interconnection agreements with Southwest Power Pool.

Electricity generated by the wind farm will be stepped up from 34.5kV to 345kV at the project substation. It will then be transferred to the 345kV Spearville substation via a new overhead transmission line. The Spearville substation will transmit electricity to the electric transmission grid.

Kansas power market

About 70% of electricity needed by Kansas comes from coal, followed by nuclear power (18%), natural gas (5%) and wind power (5%).

Wind power is a prominent source of electricity in Kansas due to the presence of abundant natural resources. The region has the potential to generate 10GW of wind power.

Apart from DEGS, several other companies have announced their plans to build wind farms in the region to take advantage of these resources. Enel Green Power North America plans to build a 200MW wind project. Wind Capital Group is expected to build a 201MW wind farm in the region.